A literacy rich classroom is a "School and classroom culture that successfully promotes the development of adolescent literacy skills are characterized by connections, interaction, and responsiveness, which lead to student engagement and reflection" (Meltzer, 2001). There are many things I, personally, will do in my own classroom to ensure that your student is actively participating in a literacy rich setting. Below, I have given many examples of actions I will take to in order to make this happen.
Positive Attitudes and Perceptions: It is imperative that students sense a positive feeling when they step foot in the classroom, and they have a good outlook on learning. After all, they spend 40 hours a week at school. There are many efforts I can make as your child's teacher to create these positive attitudes. For one, the classroom with have a warm climate. I will explain to the students that I am there for them. Whatever questions they have, however much extra help they need, I will do what it takes to help them understand what they are learning. I will be gentle and calm with the students, yet also display discipline when necessary so they feel accomplished when they behave well. The physical environment of the classroom will be warm as well. Bright, colorful posters will be displayed on the walls, as well as posters with encouraging quotes. The objectives will always be listed on the board so that students can find comfort in knowing what lies ahead of them. I will be very intentional about making each student feel accepted in the classroom. Some ways I will do this is by making direct eye contact with them frequently, calling on them by name, and teaching them in a variety of ways that fit their learning style. All of these things will contribute to creating a warm atmosphere and allow your student to have a positive attitude and perception of learning.
Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge: In order for students to be successful in school, and understand how to use their newly aquired knowledge. they must understand what the most important topics of each subject are. However, both content knowledge and thinking and reasoning processes need to be taught in order to truly be successful. I will ensure that this happens by correlating all of my subject areas. I will only have your child for Math and Reading class, however, I will be working with their other teachers and collaborating on lesson plans and unit studies so that all of our lessons are somehow tied together. Literature is a part of math, just as much as math is a part of history. We have seen a much greater success in student's knowledge of a topic when all the subject areas are tied together. This helps them to understand the big idea, and not simply just the facts.
Extending and Refining Knowledge: I believe that learning must not end once the lesson is taught and the test is taken. Learning truly happens when the information is popping up constantly through out the year, and it is being refined each time. This knowledge should be built upon, and through experiences, students will change the way it is viewed. Students gain new insights, and their knowledge and understanding of the topic is deepened. My role in the refining process is to build each lesson on the other. Once we are finished with one unit, the students will continue hearing the terms from the previous unit and will be required to use the concepts learned in the previous unit in the next. Students will journal through out the year about their thoughts of each unit, and how they can apply the knowledge. They will go back and add to these entries every few weeks, with hopes of having added incite and understanding because the new units involved the same topics.
Using Knowledge Meaningfully: Unfortunately, there may be some lessons that your student is truly uninterested in. I cannot expect each student to take interest in each topic of each content area. This is where it is my job to get creative! I do not want to students to be familiar with terms and concepts, simply because we have been working on "refining their knowledge" of that topic all year. The purpose of learning is so that the knowledge can be used! Things like problem solving, planning, decision making, inventing, inquiring, predicting, analyzing, are what I am referring to when I say I want the students to know how to use knowledge meaningfully. These are the every day tasks that students need to be successful at in order to flourish. We will perform many real world experiments using new knowledge that will put students in situations that they may actually be faced with in the future. We will do word problems and even create our own scenarios of how this information could affect us in every day life. This is the KEY to being successful.
Productive Habits of Mind: My goal this year is to train the students in a way that their thinking is always "higher level thinking." I want my classroom to be the group of students who asks the hard questions. I want them to STUMP ME! I will challenge them in a way that they are forced to think outside of the box. We will integrate technology in various forms so that they are receiving information about various topics through various means of technology. We will work in groups frequently, so that they can learn from their peers. They will be inspired to be creative and think beyond the text. We will do things such as think/pair/share, and large group discussions, to promote deeper thinking. This will help students on standardized testing because when they are thinking outside of the box, the knowledge sticks!
Positive Attitudes and Perceptions: It is imperative that students sense a positive feeling when they step foot in the classroom, and they have a good outlook on learning. After all, they spend 40 hours a week at school. There are many efforts I can make as your child's teacher to create these positive attitudes. For one, the classroom with have a warm climate. I will explain to the students that I am there for them. Whatever questions they have, however much extra help they need, I will do what it takes to help them understand what they are learning. I will be gentle and calm with the students, yet also display discipline when necessary so they feel accomplished when they behave well. The physical environment of the classroom will be warm as well. Bright, colorful posters will be displayed on the walls, as well as posters with encouraging quotes. The objectives will always be listed on the board so that students can find comfort in knowing what lies ahead of them. I will be very intentional about making each student feel accepted in the classroom. Some ways I will do this is by making direct eye contact with them frequently, calling on them by name, and teaching them in a variety of ways that fit their learning style. All of these things will contribute to creating a warm atmosphere and allow your student to have a positive attitude and perception of learning.
Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge: In order for students to be successful in school, and understand how to use their newly aquired knowledge. they must understand what the most important topics of each subject are. However, both content knowledge and thinking and reasoning processes need to be taught in order to truly be successful. I will ensure that this happens by correlating all of my subject areas. I will only have your child for Math and Reading class, however, I will be working with their other teachers and collaborating on lesson plans and unit studies so that all of our lessons are somehow tied together. Literature is a part of math, just as much as math is a part of history. We have seen a much greater success in student's knowledge of a topic when all the subject areas are tied together. This helps them to understand the big idea, and not simply just the facts.
Extending and Refining Knowledge: I believe that learning must not end once the lesson is taught and the test is taken. Learning truly happens when the information is popping up constantly through out the year, and it is being refined each time. This knowledge should be built upon, and through experiences, students will change the way it is viewed. Students gain new insights, and their knowledge and understanding of the topic is deepened. My role in the refining process is to build each lesson on the other. Once we are finished with one unit, the students will continue hearing the terms from the previous unit and will be required to use the concepts learned in the previous unit in the next. Students will journal through out the year about their thoughts of each unit, and how they can apply the knowledge. They will go back and add to these entries every few weeks, with hopes of having added incite and understanding because the new units involved the same topics.
Using Knowledge Meaningfully: Unfortunately, there may be some lessons that your student is truly uninterested in. I cannot expect each student to take interest in each topic of each content area. This is where it is my job to get creative! I do not want to students to be familiar with terms and concepts, simply because we have been working on "refining their knowledge" of that topic all year. The purpose of learning is so that the knowledge can be used! Things like problem solving, planning, decision making, inventing, inquiring, predicting, analyzing, are what I am referring to when I say I want the students to know how to use knowledge meaningfully. These are the every day tasks that students need to be successful at in order to flourish. We will perform many real world experiments using new knowledge that will put students in situations that they may actually be faced with in the future. We will do word problems and even create our own scenarios of how this information could affect us in every day life. This is the KEY to being successful.
Productive Habits of Mind: My goal this year is to train the students in a way that their thinking is always "higher level thinking." I want my classroom to be the group of students who asks the hard questions. I want them to STUMP ME! I will challenge them in a way that they are forced to think outside of the box. We will integrate technology in various forms so that they are receiving information about various topics through various means of technology. We will work in groups frequently, so that they can learn from their peers. They will be inspired to be creative and think beyond the text. We will do things such as think/pair/share, and large group discussions, to promote deeper thinking. This will help students on standardized testing because when they are thinking outside of the box, the knowledge sticks!